Dan Dupont scored two goals as Xavier held on for a 3-2 victory in front of several hundred spectators at the Spurrier-Snyder Rink in a game between two of the top-ranked teams in the state. Xavier was ranked third in the New Haven Register's most recent state poll, while Ridgefield was ranked fifth.

"It was a battle," Dupont said. "We work hard and we're a gritty team. We're definitely not a pretty team, and I think that shows. But we work hard and we get wins."

Two years ago, Xavier had beaten Ridgefield by a goal at Wesleyan. Last year, Ridgefield beat Xavier by a goal at the Winter Garden. Both teams expected a similarly close, hard-fought game Saturday -- and they got it.

"It's been a great battle over the last three years," Ridgefield coach Shaun Gallagher said. "One-goal games every year. We match up well. They do a lot of nice things. We've played better this year, but I think we did some nice things, too."

Ridgefield is now 3-3 -- with wins over Hamden, Glastonbury and South Windsor -- and will look to bounce back against Staples/Weston/Shelton at home on Wednesday. Xavier improved to 6-2, with its only in-state loss coming against Notre Dame of West Haven on New Year's Eve. The Falcons will host Hamden in another big game on Wednesday.

"This was a big one. First good team we've beaten, definitely," Dupont said. "The loss to ND was huge, and that was tough to overcome, but the win over Ridgefield definitely made that feel better."

Dupont put Xavier in front to stay in Saturday's game, scoring on the power play with 1:29 to go in the second period to make it 3-2. Ridgefield's Geoffrey Schneider was serving a minor penalty for unsportsmanline conduct.

The Falcons struck first at 4:51 of the first period when Dupont banged home the rebound of a shot by John Burkinshaw on the power play. Ridgefield goalie Dustin Rausa (20 saves) made the initial save on Burkinshaw, but the puck trickled behind him and Dupont crashed the net and knocked it in. Ridgefield's Alex Rowella was in the penalty box serving a two-minute high-sticking penalty.

The Tigers tied it with 1:54 to play in the first period on Henry Gough's power-play goal. Gough, a defenseman playing the point on the power play, intercepted an Xavier clearing pass at the blue line, stick-handed down the right side and wristed a high shot past Xavier goalie Shane Baldwin (21 saves) from inside the faceoff circle. Xavier's Hunter Wilcox was in the box serving a two-minute boarding penalty for his hit from behind on Ridgefield's Liam Smith in the Falcons' offensive zone.

The teams swapped goals early in the second. Vincent Rella put Ridgefield briefly ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal 2:46 into the second period. Xavier's Jack Gethings was in the box serving a tripping minor - another penalty taken in the Falcons' offensive zone. Ryan McClellan tied it 1:25 later with a huge goal that swiped the momentum away from the Tigers.

"It's big for us to answer right away because guys can get down and deflated really quickly," Xavier coach Scott Gainey said. "Answering that goal, it was kind of a sloppy goal, one of our guys just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and we'll take it."